Public service motivation helps: Understanding the influence of public employees’ perceived overqualification on turnover intentions

IF 2.1 4区管理学 Q2 PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

Australian Journal of Public Administration Pub Date : 2023-05-18 DOI:10.1111/1467-8500.12588

Yuanjie Bao, Wei Zhong

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Perceived overqualification is an important phenomenon that can lead to several undesirable outcomes; however, this phenomenon has received little research attention from public administration (PA) scholars. This study aims to investigate whether perceived overqualification rendered turnover intentions through eliciting negative affect, and whether public service motivation mitigated those detrimental effects. Analysis of survey data from 418 Chinese public employees supported our predictions. Results indicated that although perceived overqualification led to turnover intention partially through eliciting negative affect, public service motivation helped to mitigate these impairments. These findings suggest that although employees who are overqualified may decide to leave public service jobs, those with high public service motivation are less likely to do so due to their desire to do good for the public. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Points for practitioners

Public managers should pay close attention to possible overqualifications because it may lead to turnover intention among employees.
Public managers should periodically survey the affective states of employees.
Selection and socialisation based on public service motivation should be encouraged.

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公共服务动机有帮助：了解公职人员资历过高对离职意愿的影响

感知到的资格过高是一个重要现象，可导致多种不良后果；然而，公共行政（PA）学者对这一现象的研究关注甚少。本研究旨在探讨感知到的资格过高是否会通过激发负面情绪而导致离职意向，以及公共服务动机是否会减轻这些不利影响。对 418 名中国公职人员调查数据的分析支持了我们的预测。结果表明，虽然感知到的过高资历部分地通过激发负面情绪而导致离职意向，但公共服务动机却有助于减轻这些损害。这些研究结果表明，虽然超额完成任务的员工可能会决定离开公共服务岗位，但那些具有较高公共服务动机的员工由于渴望为公众做好事而不太可能这样做。本文讨论了其理论和实践意义。对实践者的启示公共管理者应密切关注可能出现的资格过高问题，因为这可能会导致员工产生离职意向。公共管理者应定期调查员工的情感状态。应鼓励基于公共服务动机的选拔和社会化。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Australian Journal of Public Administration PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION-

CiteScore

4.40

自引率

9.10%

发文量

期刊介绍： Aimed at a diverse readership, the Australian Journal of Public Administration is committed to the study and practice of public administration, public management and policy making. It encourages research, reflection and commentary amongst those interested in a range of public sector settings - federal, state, local and inter-governmental. The journal focuses on Australian concerns, but welcomes manuscripts relating to international developments of relevance to Australian experience.